As thousands lined the streets to pay their respects to little Bradley Lowery, a mourner spotted something unusual in the sky.
Superheroes saluted the coffin of Bradley Lowery, the six-year-old who passed away after bravely battling cancer, and famous footballers joined Bradley’s mum in laying her young son to rest, as well as crowds who lined the streets wearing Sunderland colours.
But amid the touching spectacle, one mourner Mark Shields turned his eyes to the heavens and saw what, to him, looked like a child’s face in the clouds. Moments later, Shields claims, the clouds parted to reveal the shape of a blue heart in the sky.
Mr Shields shared the image on Facebook with the post:
I took this picture at Bradley’s funeral today, just a bit surreal that I looked up for a second and a blue heart formed over the church however the picture has revealed something else.
Look in the top right corner at the little boys face. This is unbelievable. [sic]
Bradley’s mum, Gemma, read a poem for her little boy, whose last few months were spent bravely battling a rare form of cancer called neuroblastoma, and raising awareness to help others fight the disease.
The poem read: “For now my baby, we will say goodbye. We’ll meet again, our superhero, high up in the sky.”
For some, the words were truer than is possible to imagine. RIP Bradley.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.